Nothing much out of
the ordinary has happened since I wrote last. A man went out hunting and got
lost in the tall weeds. He shouted until some others found him and then had
great stories to tell of narrow escapes, etc. Harrison Leroy died this morning.
He was half sick all the way here and did not rally after coming ashore. Dr.
Andrus poked a swab down my throat with something on it that burned and
strangled me terribly. But I am much the better for it. We have all been
vaccinated, and there is a marked improvement in the condition of those not in
the hospital. The chaplain preached a sermon and Colonel Cowles made a speech.
He thanked us for being such good soldiers under what he called the most trying
circumstances war can bring. Loads of soldiers go up the river nearly every
day. As the doctor allows them to pass the quarantine, I take it they are not
in the fix we are.
SOURCE:
Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 76
